This is the first Egyptian movie that has a very high propaganda by all advertising means as well as the first Egyptian movie that has been awarded in Tribeca Film Festival & participated in Berlinale & Cannes 2006 & still may be have a chance in the 2007 Oscars in the best foreign Film Category .
The movie shows some examples of people who have lived in the huge historical building known as (Jaocbian Building) in the city center & how the political status & changes in Egypt had influenced every person who has lived in this house.
The main two characters were Zaki El Desouky (Adel Imam)& Haj Azzam (Nour El Sheriff). The first (Zaki) was previously known as a (Basha) a very well rich man before the Egyptian revolution & now he is a normal old citizen who has his teenage fantasies with many sexual relations with hookers & no job to do except avoiding his evil sister played by (Esad Younes) who kicked him out of his house & tries to send him to a psychyatric hospital at the end to vanquish him forever.
The second character (Azzam) was a shoe polisher in the old days & turned to be a very rich man who has Car agencies & huge stores in Egypt & is searching for another wife to marry for fulfilling his sexual interest but with marriage he thinks that he is on the right track according to religion but when the story goes on it shows us how cruel he was with his new beautiful wife (Somaya El Khashab) & on the other hand he entered the Egyptian assembly with his relations with some government officials.
The third character was played by (Khaled El Sawwy) & in my opinion he was the best in role reflecting the character of the news reporter (Hazem Farid) who is very keen on his work but at night his sexual fantasies appear as being GAY & searching for poor men to sleep with him at night. He is totally ready to pay them anything & give them all his money... maybe all his life to have a nice time in bed with a man . This is a very disgusting idea but the actor excelled in acting this role specifically which made him on top of the main actors making you believe that he was a real gay .
The fourth character was for a teenager named Taha played by (Mohamed Imam)a son of the doorman who got engaged to a poor girl (Hend Sabry)who lives on the roof & he tried to enter the police academy but was refused for being a son of the door man .Entering another faculty & meeting some weird religious people made him change his view in life & leave his beard then participates in a demonostration where he is arrested & then being raped & tortured to death behind bars turns his decent character to a terrorist trying to get revenge from the police officer who caused him all his pains & the ending is a real sorrow .
The fifth & maybe final main character was for the poor girl (Hend Sabry) who was working in a shop with a disgusting owner who tried to fulfill his fantasies with the young girl in the stock . Then she leaves the rotten job to work for Zaki el Desouky & their relation changes to be friends & ends by marriage .
The whole film is a new trend which reflects the history of Egypt in 75 years but at the same time it is not a summer commercial movie like the audience expect . it is a movie for cinematic festivals & it will be highly appreciated to the people who concentrate in its symbols & metaphors .
A word to finish with is that there were some goofs i this movie because the events occur in 1995 & the director mistakenly showed some wrong signs that weren't there at this time. 1- There is a small street advertisement for Vodafone in front of Cairo university & in 1995 there were no cellular phones ! 2- The streets of Cairo show the new transport green buses & minibuses which didn't exist before 2004 . 3- The streets also show the prepaid card telephones in street known as (Menatel) which didn't exist either . 4- Finally inside the Groppi Cafe there was a Pepsi refrigerator holding the new Logo of Pepsi which was designed in 1999 while in 1995 there was another Logo !
The movie shows some examples of people who have lived in the huge historical building known as (Jaocbian Building) in the city center & how the political status & changes in Egypt had influenced every person who has lived in this house.
The main two characters were Zaki El Desouky (Adel Imam)& Haj Azzam (Nour El Sheriff). The first (Zaki) was previously known as a (Basha) a very well rich man before the Egyptian revolution & now he is a normal old citizen who has his teenage fantasies with many sexual relations with hookers & no job to do except avoiding his evil sister played by (Esad Younes) who kicked him out of his house & tries to send him to a psychyatric hospital at the end to vanquish him forever.
The second character (Azzam) was a shoe polisher in the old days & turned to be a very rich man who has Car agencies & huge stores in Egypt & is searching for another wife to marry for fulfilling his sexual interest but with marriage he thinks that he is on the right track according to religion but when the story goes on it shows us how cruel he was with his new beautiful wife (Somaya El Khashab) & on the other hand he entered the Egyptian assembly with his relations with some government officials.
The third character was played by (Khaled El Sawwy) & in my opinion he was the best in role reflecting the character of the news reporter (Hazem Farid) who is very keen on his work but at night his sexual fantasies appear as being GAY & searching for poor men to sleep with him at night. He is totally ready to pay them anything & give them all his money... maybe all his life to have a nice time in bed with a man . This is a very disgusting idea but the actor excelled in acting this role specifically which made him on top of the main actors making you believe that he was a real gay .
The fourth character was for a teenager named Taha played by (Mohamed Imam)a son of the doorman who got engaged to a poor girl (Hend Sabry)who lives on the roof & he tried to enter the police academy but was refused for being a son of the door man .Entering another faculty & meeting some weird religious people made him change his view in life & leave his beard then participates in a demonostration where he is arrested & then being raped & tortured to death behind bars turns his decent character to a terrorist trying to get revenge from the police officer who caused him all his pains & the ending is a real sorrow .
The fifth & maybe final main character was for the poor girl (Hend Sabry) who was working in a shop with a disgusting owner who tried to fulfill his fantasies with the young girl in the stock . Then she leaves the rotten job to work for Zaki el Desouky & their relation changes to be friends & ends by marriage .
The whole film is a new trend which reflects the history of Egypt in 75 years but at the same time it is not a summer commercial movie like the audience expect . it is a movie for cinematic festivals & it will be highly appreciated to the people who concentrate in its symbols & metaphors .
A word to finish with is that there were some goofs i this movie because the events occur in 1995 & the director mistakenly showed some wrong signs that weren't there at this time. 1- There is a small street advertisement for Vodafone in front of Cairo university & in 1995 there were no cellular phones ! 2- The streets of Cairo show the new transport green buses & minibuses which didn't exist before 2004 . 3- The streets also show the prepaid card telephones in street known as (Menatel) which didn't exist either . 4- Finally inside the Groppi Cafe there was a Pepsi refrigerator holding the new Logo of Pepsi which was designed in 1999 while in 1995 there was another Logo !